Chapter 29 - Retreading Old Ground

Being back in the Barrens again after so long felt so refreshing. Despite how oppressive it still was, I'd happily take it over the city any day. Especially with the plus one walking next to me.

Given that I knew what we needed to do here, retracing our steps was simple, starting with the metal pipe in the cottage near the docks and meeting Prophetbot again. I had to admit, I missed the little guy in his priest getup. His eye sparkled in the light of the sun as he waved around his staff almost like he was born to hold it. There were a couple of times I felt a grin sneak its way onto my face as he explained to Niko what was going on.

"[Oh! Have You Also Contacted Alan Yet?]" Prophetbot asked.

She raised an eyebrow and looked between me and him, "...What do you mean by that?"

"[Well, Alan Is The God Of This World After All!]"

Her eyes lit up as she looked up at me, "Oh, right! I...think I remember something like that."

"You do?" I asked a little too eagerly.

"[But Wait...Did You Not Just Arrive Here?]" Prophetbot's shoulders slumped, "[I Was The One Who Was Suppose To Inform You Of That. So...How Did You Know?]"

Niko opened her mouth to speak but stopped. Her eyes glazed over as she racked her brain, unknown to her that I knew why she knew, "...Hmm...It just made sense, I guess!" She looked at me again, "I'm kind of surprised you didn't tell me earlier, Alan!"

I scratched my head, "Well, I wanted to at least get us out of that house first before I-"

"[Oh My!]" Prophetbot interrupted me as he pushed his eye right into my face, making cry out in surprise, "[It Is Such An Honor To Be In Your Presence, O Holy One!]"

"Uh…"

"[If There Is Any Way That I Can Be Of Assistance, Please Do Not Hesitate To Ask Me!]"

I sweatdropped as he returned to his original spot, "R-Right, sure…"

As Prophetbot continued to answer Niko's questions, I ran through everything we needed to do here in my head: power on the generator, find the safe, find the cleaning supplies for the Rowbot, meet Silver and get the necklace from her. Simple enough, but I constantly wondered if there was anything else that could potentially help save this world and get Niko home without breaking the sun. It wasn't until I felt a tug on my jacket that I snapped out of my thoughts.

"Alan? You okay?"

I smiled at her, "I'm alright. Are you done asking him all your questions?"

"Mhm...though, there was something I wanted to ask you personally."

I kneeled down, "Sure, ask away."

She shuffled around before she finally spoke, "This might sound weird, but...have we...met...before?" I caught my breath as she continued, "I've just constantly had this feeling that we have, but I don't…"

"We have," I blurted out without thinking. Her eyes widened as I mentally cursed myself over and over. If she knew we had already done this whole journey…

"Huh, I don't remember you though…" She shook her head and smiled at me, "It's just a weird feeling I have. Maybe it's different for a god like you!"

I was taken aback by how easily she accepted this. Maybe that was a good thing, but it didn't make me feel any better about lying to her. For now, it was probably best to play up the "God" role until we properly saved her and the world.

"Anyway, it's nice to properly meet you, Alan! I'm Niko!" She giggled, "Though, you probably already knew that."

I laughed with her, doing my best to make it sound natural, "It's nice to meet you too, Niko."

She smiled before she began examining our surroundings, "So...do you know what we need to do now?"

I jabbed a thumb over at the building Prophetbot stood by, "There's a battery for a generator in there, and neither of them have any power. The only way we're gonna be able to leave this place is by fixing both of them."

She nodded, "Then, let's go! I'm kind of excited to explore everything!"

I smiled. God, how I missed her enthusiasm. I offered her my hand and she took it without hesitation. It was time to retrace our steps.

Making a quick detour to the factory next to us to turn the pipe into a crowbar again, we easily obtained the solar battery that the generator needed. With the battery in hand, it was time to pay a visit to Silver again. As Niko and I crossed the cliffs, I found myself thinking back to the original run, wondering what Silver had been doing when the world ended; how alone she must have felt. It was kind of ironic. She told us that returning the sun wouldn't fix anything, yet we didn't even make the decision to return it...or rather, I didn't make that choice. It only made me feel more and more guilty as the outpost drew closer and closer until we could see the familiar black clovers lining the path up to the entrance.

Entering the outpost again felt like leaving one graveyard and entering another. It felt unsettling knowing that everything here had simply ceased to exist, only for me to cheat the system by bringing it back. As Silver's face poked out from behind the bookshelf, it took everything I had to not shrink back in shame.

"[The lightbulb…]" she muttered, her stoicism all too familiar as she locked eyes with me, "[So, are you-]"

I quickly shook my head and pointed at Niko, who in turn waved hello at her. Silver raised an eyebrow at me in disbelief, "[If the child is the messiah, then who are you?]"

"Alan. Nice to meet you," I simply stated.

She blinked in surprise, but not much else before quickly launching into her speech of how returning the sun wouldn't fix anything. Niko listened while I quietly looked around for the screwdriver that sat on one of the shelves. Kip's letter caught my eye again, forcing me to stop and get in control of myself. Silver was starting to finish talking with Niko, so I grabbed the screwdriver and rejoined them.

"[Do you need further assistance?]"

"Yeah, actually. Is it okay if I take this?" I asked, holding up the screwdriver.

"[Sure. I have several.]"

I smiled and placed the screwdriver in my pack, "And, one other thing...we wanted to take a look inside the mines nearby. Would you mind coming with us?"

"[Seeing how they've been abandoned for a while, I'd be required to at least accompany you once.]" She moved past us towards the outside, "[Please follow me.]"

It didn't take us long to reach the mines being only a minute away from the outpost. The jagged walls of rock bared down on us once again as Niko and I quickly came across the lens that we needed for the solar battery, letting us fix it and charge it in no time at all.

"Well, that takes care of that. We should start heading-" I looked over at Niko and stopped. Her gaze was locked on to something deeper down the mine. Right, that happened before too. I tossed the battery into my pack and stayed by her side as she slowly began moving deeper into the mines. I followed her gaze as we reached the edge of where we could walk. In the distance, I could see a small yellow glow from deeper within the cave. I recalled that I had seen something like that in the original run, but I never thought anything of it. I placed my hand on Niko's shoulder and got ready to pull her back from the edge when I felt a sharp stab of pain surge into my head.

"Guh…!" I cried out as the faint image of a robot with a glowing yellow eye filled my sight before it quickly vanished. The suddenness of the vision coupled with the intense pain of my headache caused one of my feet to slip off the edge.

"Woah, CRAP!"

Before I could fall any further, I felt Silver's metal hand clamp down hard on my shoulder and yank me back from the darkness that threatened to swallow me whole. I landed hard on the rocky floor of the mine as Silver towered over me. Niko snapped out of her daze and rushed to my side, setting down the sun next to her, "Oh my gosh, Alan! Are you alright?!"

"[It is a good thing I was here with you,]" Silver said, unamused, "[Next time, please don't stand so close to the edge.]"

"R-Right, thanks for the save…"

Silver looked me over before raising an eyebrow, "[What happened, anyway? You looked like you both were starting to blackout.]"

"I...saw something…" I rubbed my head, "Like a vision. It just came on so quickly…"

Niko's eyes widened, "You saw it, too? Did you see the robot with the yellow eye?"

"Yeah…"

"[So you both shared a vision of the same thing? That's...strange.]" Silver said, "[Are you sure you're both okay?]"

Niko and I looked at each other. I could tell the vision had rattled her, but she seemed to be more worried about me. I offered her a smile and rubbed her head before looking back at Silver, "Yeah, I think we're okay."

Niko kept an eye on me even as Silver explained what was further down the mine. I stayed put as I kept peering down the tunnel, trying to see the light that had now vanished. I frowned. That vision was exactly like the one Niko and I had in the Refuge with the fox, but we never saw this one during the original run. Why did it appear now? Did it mean something? We ran into the fox after seeing the vision of it...Was the robot we saw in this vision the one that was deeper in the mines?

I tore myself from my thoughts when I noticed Silver had gone back to the entrance of the mine and Niko was nudging my shoulder, trying to grab my attention. Before I could say anything, she quickly wrapped her arms around me. It took me by surprise, but I returned her embrace as I began to hear soft muffled sniffles coming from her.

"Niko, there's no need to cry. I'm perfectly fine," I said, doing my best to try and calm her.

"I-I know...I just was really s-scared because...t-that only happened cause you were n-next to me..."

I leaned out of her grasp, "Hey, uh-uh. Don't you start saying it was your fault, cause it wasn't. I just wasn't paying attention to where I was standing."

She didn't look convinced, but instead of trying to argue, she simply buried her face into my neck and hugged me tighter, "J-Just...promise me you won't scare me like that again…"

"I'll try my best."

She shook her head and leaned back, "Promise."

We both stared at each other until I smiled and rubbed behind her ears. "...Alright, I promise."

She grinned and returned to nuzzling my neck. I kept Niko in my arms, rubbing her back until she had calmed down enough to finally release her hold on me. I pet her head one more time before getting back onto my feet. As we turned to leave, I shot one last glance down the tunnel. The yellow light was visible for a split second before it disappeared into the darkness. Whatever robot was down there, they were definitely important. The only question was how were we supposed to meet them with parts of the tunnel collapsed? I didn't dwell on it too long and followed Niko and Silver out of the mine.

"Thank you for helping us!" Niko said to Silver as we returned to the outpost.

A small smile crept onto her face before it vanished, "[You're welcome. Good luck on your mission.]"

As I watched her turn to leave, I felt conflicted. I knew we would need to come back to get the amber necklace from her, but that wasn't what bothered me. What bothered me was that she would go back to being alone after we left. Flashbacks of the Barren fading into nothingness sent chills up my spine, knowing that she had died in solitude. It just didn't feel right...leaving her alone here.

"Hey, hang on!" I blurted out, stopping her in her tracks.

She turned back to me with confusion etched on her face, "[Yes? Is there something else I can help you with?]"

"Uh, well…" I hesitated, "...Would...you mind coming with us?"

"[...What?]" she balked, as if what I had just asked of her was taboo.

"Well, I...just thought it'd be safer if you came with us since you seem to be more familiar with the Barrens than either of us. You could stay with us, at least, until we left for the other regions."

Her eyes went wide as she processed my request. I thought I could even hear the gears in her head turning as she stood rooted to the spot. Even if she didn't know the real reason why I wanted her to come with us, I felt like I owed it to her to at least have her with us until we inevitably parted ways.

"[I...guess it wouldn't hurt to accompany you longer...]" she finally said.

I smiled as she rejoined us and together we left the outpost and headed back to the generator. Along the way, Niko kept asking Silver questions about this world. At first, she tried to maintain her usual stoicism, but as we got closer to the powerhouse, she seemed to become more relaxed in our company.

We finally reached the powerhouse and I pulled the battery out of my pack as we entered, double-checking that it was fully powered. Just before I began to get closer to the generator, an idea popped in my head.

"Hey, Niko. Wanna help me put this in?" I said, holding up the battery.

"Oh, sure!" she replied, bounding up next to me. She moved the sun into her other arm as she placed a hand on the battery. Together, we slid it into the slot while I watched Niko's hand, waiting for the shock that had zapped me in the original run. As the battery fit into place, The generator churned to life as its azure lights filled up the room.

I looked back and forth between Niko and the battery in confusion, "Hold on, why did it not-" I reached out to touch the now active battery, only to feel the sting of electricity shoot into my hand. "YEOWCH!" I cried out, yanking my hand away, "Aw, that's just…" I grumbled, blowing on my hand and shaking it to ease the pain.

Niko tumbled onto the floor in laughter, "Alan, were you trying to get me to shock myself?"

My face burned up, "N-No…"

"Are you suuuure?"

"I'm not saying anything."

"Is that a yes?"

I glanced over at her, doing my best to keep a straight face, "We should get going."

"But you didn't answer my question!" she huffed.

I felt a smirk force its way onto me, "Nope. Not gonna."

A snort jerked my attention away from Niko and to Silver, who was currently looking away and covering her mouth. She noticed me staring, quickly coughed, something that I knew a robot shouldn't need to do, and returned to her normal reserved nature. Was...was she...laughing just then?

"[What?]"

I smiled, "...Nothing."

Niko had picked herself up off the floor but was still giggling at my accidental shock therapy. I rolled my eyes and rubbed her head as we exited the room. The powered down robots from before wandered around the building, even saying their greetings to Silver. All of it faded away as I locked eyes with the powered-up computer. The one that The Entity used to speak to me the first time. I didn't want to use it but seeing as how I still needed the code for the safe, I had no other choice.

I was about to turn it on before I stopped and looked over at Niko and Silver, "So, after I turn this on, please try not to freak out over what happens to me, okay?"

They both looked confused, but there was nothing else I could do to prepare them for what was about to happen to me. Taking a deep breath, I turned on the computer and prepared to meet the Entity once again.